4. Stalker

He was there along with Jake. It was a full moon.The sky was painted red in the morning. I woke up screaming as loud as I could the whole room shaking with my yells…

My dreams were becoming irregular. One moment I would be sleeping peacefully in my bed, and the next a vampire was in front of me. The face changed from a beautiful woman with golden hair to her knees, to the one boy who brought all this madness on. or a random face completely. But one time I saw Jake’s face staring back at me and my brother had to rush into the room to keep me from bashing my head against the wall or something. I wasn’t sure how a single presence could turn my life upside down, but Edward Cullen was doing it quite efficiently. And a week since Jake’s little meltdown, I knew what had to be done. Edward Cullen, vampire or not, prepare for your secrets to be revealed.

Jake was sitting at the coffee table in the living room-our dining room table had yet to be replaced- slurping down a bowl of his cereal. I tried to sneak past him, but for some reason the men in the Black family possess amazing hearing, sight, and practically everything else relating to the mind. Actually, all my sisters did also. I was the only oddball out. Fitting.

“Where you going?” Jake asked suddenly form his position by the table. He didn’t even look up from his food. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he smirked at me, finally glancing in my direction. But as he saw the items I was carrying, his eyes narrowed as well.

I slowly tripped towards the front door, keeping my back away from him. It wasn’t as if he was going to attack me or anything, but I didn’t want him to know that I was doing something completely insane. “Nothing of your concern,” I hissed at him. Of course this only made his eye brows crease in thought.

“You’re carrying a camera, binoculars and a notepad, Bella,” he pointed out. I looked down at my items, only then thinking that maybe I should have put them in a bag.

“I’m going bird watching,” I said very slowly. Jake just raised an eyebrow at that. I mentally cursed my inability to lie without any talent whatsoever. He got up then, making his way across the room to stand in front of me. “You’re going bird watching on a Saturday morning when you could be sleeping,” he confirmed. I nodded my head eagerly. He patted my shoulder and rolled his eyes. “I lived with you for sixteen years. Do you really expect me to believe you?”

I only had one option left. I carefully lifted my camera and looked up at him.

“Maybe you’re right,” I agreed. He relaxed, but he didn’t let his guard down. But he didn’t expect the flash of the camera to be on. “Cheese!” I yelled before snapping a picture right in front of his face. I heard him yelp and yelling about me blinding him before I was out the door, sprinting towards my truck. I felt a little guilty, but he was big. It was my only defense.

I thankfully didn’t see him following in his car, though. He must have taken the hint and left me alone. Or maybe he wanted to see dad bash me about leaving the house without notifying him or someone responsible. Either way it worked out well for me because I got to make history as Fork’s first female spy on a mission to seek out possible vampires. Not that I’m admitting anything.

It took a little while to get to Forks. And because my truck is as ancient as the Red Woods, it took longer than normal to reach the small town. But as I lumbered towards the town, I began to plan my little expedition.

What was I actually going to accomplish? I didn’t even know where the guy lives, or who he even is. And I also began to contemplate how crazy I was to stalk a person I barely knew. Oh crud, I was a stalker. Would I go to jail? Would I be arrested? Humiliated? Well, obviously humiliated. When am I not? But nevertheless, what was I thinking? How could I possibly conceive that I had the guts to follow and observe a person who probably had their fair share of stalkers. The guy was completely gorgeous. I would probably run into another girl who was obsessed with him. In fact-Stop! I had to stop before I went completely nuts. I just had to calm down and think through this logically. I didn’t know where he lived, but I had a resource that could help me out on that. Then I could just play it by ear and do what people doing investigations do. Other then that, I had to leave it to chance.

I drove with shaky hands towards the house I only been to once or twice in the past. The vegetation was slowly eating the house up, but it looked friendly enough. I even saw a police cruiser parked in the driveway. He was home. Perfect.

Even though I knew exactly what I had to do, it took me a very long time to get up the nerve to get out of the car and walk up to the front door. It took many tries, actually. But in the end-and twenty minutes later- I was standing outside of Charlie Swan’s house, just about ready to knock. But just as my fist was about to connect with the wood, the door swung open to reveal a balding man.

My fist didn’t stop in time. It bonked him right on the forehead. We both jumped back a few feet. His hand flew to his gun and my brain and heart just stopped for a moment before Mr. Swan realized who was standing at his door.

“Little Isabella?” he asked in wonderment. He stared at me, squinting probably because his eyesight was fading. I nodded hesitantly, and waved timidly. He chuckled and beckoned me inside his home. I stepped in without a thought. This man was a family friend. Even though I didn’t see him in a little while.

“Bella, please,” I reminded him. He nodded and busied himself with some coffee.

“So,” he started, a hot coffee in his hands. He plopped down at the kitchen table, smiling over at me. “What brings you here?” he wondered. I looked at the floor hesitantly, but my resolve hardened when I remembered my erratic dreams.

“Do you know the Cullens?” I asked before I chickened out. Mr. Swan looked flabbergasted for a moment before staring at me curiously.

“The Cullens?” he confirmed. I nodded quickly. “Well,” he said, staring at the ceiling for a moment. “They are a very lovely family. Very quiet, though, and not very social. This town is lucky to have Carlisle, the father, as a doctor. He’s a genius. He mended my broken elbow the time I fell on some ice out on my sidewalk. It’s now close to how it was before. Very cold, though. I tried to convince him to take a sick day, but he refused. Strange, but the nicest man I ever met. Why do you ask?” he said, the words pouring from his mouth. I just stared at him in shock.

“I am writing a report on influential people in our town. Forks counts because La Push is so small,” I responded in a daze. I wouldn’t have fooled anyone else, but Charlie probably was as bad at lying as I was. He didn’t notice, anyway. “Can you tell me their address? I need to talk to some of the family members.” Mr. Swan looked hesitant, but something seemed to win him over in the end.

“Well, Carlisle does need more credit than he is getting,” Charlie mumbled. He wrote something hastily down on a piece of paper before shoving it over to me. “Don’t go bothering them, though,” he warned. I smiled at him and got up from the table.

“Don’t worry,” I assured. “They would hardly know that I’m even there.”

It took me some time to navigate through the town, and even longer to find the absurdly narrow turnoff into the Cullen’s driveway. I passed it at least ten times, my less than perfect eyesight always grazing over the entrance. But when I finally figured out where to go, I had to decide how to travel from there. My truck would probably be too noisy, but I had no idea how long with driveway was. It looked as though they were purposefully removed from the rest of the world. Who knew how far back they were.

I felt another shudder run through me, their chosen living area only adding to the theory of mythical creatures. I tried to scoff at the idea of vampires like I had only a month ago, but I felt the laugh stick in my throat.

I ended up leaving my truck parked beside the road, hidden in the bushes so no one would find or steal it. But what a thief may find that is actually of value is beyond me. They would only find cobwebs and a candy wrapper from three years before.

I stepped hesitantly from my truck, glancing around to see if anyone was near. I quickly grabbed my camera, notebook and binoculars and stuffed them into a plastic bag I thankfully found in the back of my truck. I really felt like a spy of some sort. A spy on some secret mission. Very secret since I was the only one who would ever know about this.

I slipped into the overgrown driveway, my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this. And that I would get away with it. I felt like screaming with joy. No one was driving down the lane so far and I could just jump into the bushes if I heard a car. No one was going to find me-

“Good morning. Can I help you with something?”

I froze in place. It took me a few moments to realize that I had been caught. I slowly turned around, my mind reeling and trying to come up with a logical excuse. Um…I got lost. No, I don’t know why I’m carrying spy materials. It was a lost cause.

“I’m lost!” I blurted out, before I even laid eyes on the person who spoke in the first place. And when I did, I didn’t expect to see the one face who started this whole thing. “O-Oh,” I choked out, my bag dropping to the ground. Edward glanced down and bent to pick it up. “No! Don’t look at that!” I yelled before throwing my self on the ground to snatch it up. Unfortunately, his hands wrapped around the bag before I could but he handed it back to me without even looking at it’s contents. He glanced at me, and my heart momentarily stopped beating.

“Do you need any help finding you’re way back into town?” he asked me wearily. He must have figured out why I was here. My mission had failed, but one question was nagging at my mind: How did he sneak up on my like that? I was being very careful and paying close attention.

His eyes were also a few shades darker then they were when I was on my date. His remarkable paleness only added to my fears.

Oh no, I had to stop this. Vampires are not real…I repeated in my head over and over again. I didn’t even know why I was even on this mission any longer. I was just being a fool.

Edward narrowed his eyes at me, his muscled arms crossed over his chest. “Do you need any help or not?” he growled. It wasn’t necessarily a human sound, but it didn’t exactly sound animal like. People growl all the time. While I was laughing at myself internally, Edward grabbed my shoulders and turned me around to face the entryway of the drive way. “Are you okay?” he asked me. I looked up at him, slightly dazed. I had no idea what I was doing any longer. Especially because I felt an electric shock go up my arm when we made contact. Man, he was cold. And hard. And… I looked up at him one more time. His face was a mask, and I suddenly had a very sudden urge to wipe it off. What was wrong with me?

At that moment I was sure of one thing. Edward Cullen is above and beyond reality. Whether he was human or not, though, I still had some snooping left to do to figure that out. I might have had doubts only a few moments before, but my resolve bubbled to the surface again.

“No, I’m not okay,” I whimpered. “I think I’m lost, can you help me find my way back into town?” Edward gave me an exasperated sigh before walking back towards the main road. This was sure going to be interesting.